MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

5/12 Hendry on Castro: We're not worried about defense

The Cubs know Starlin Castro will make mistakes in his crash course on big league baseball.

“He’s a real good defensive player,” GM Jim Hendry said Wednesday of the 20-year-old shortstop, who has made five errors in five games. “I expected a few rough days early.”

One thing Castro has to get used to is the pace of the game. Everything seems faster. And his defensive ability is well above anyone on the roster, Hendry said, adding that Castro can make plays nobody has done with the Cubs for quite some time.

“That’s not a criticism of Ryan [Theriot],” Hendry said of Theriot, who moved from shortstop to second base to make room for the highly touted shortstop. “I think [Theriot] is going to be a better player at second. The kid’s going to make a few errors now and then. There’s nobody in the game who wouldn’t tell you he’s not a plus-plus defender with outstanding range and an above average arm.”

There will be growing pains along the way.

“He’s 20 years old,” Hendry said. “I remember Derek Jeter made a ton of errors in the Minor Leagues. You grow into it. [Castro] is going to find his niche. We’re not worried about his defense at all.”

– Carrie Muskat

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7 Comments

The Cubs need to move Theriot to third, get Fountenout (and his bat) back in at second and bench Ramirez! He isn’t hitting, his fielding is mediocre at best, and there doesn’t seem to be anything improving for him! If Ryan can handle short, I’m sure he can handle third.

I don’t think Theriot can make the long throw from third. If you want Fontentot back in you might as well play him at third as he did last year. We’re grabbing at straws. Obviously Hendry would say that about Castro’s defense, he’s NEVER worried about defense. (Soriano, Nady). I’m all for leaving Castro in and let him get acclimated but only because of the possible upside to his young carreer, not so in Soriano’s case. Better trade him to the BoSox Jim since they may be releasing Ortiz soon…?

Seriously, it makes a great deal of sense to trade Soriano to an American League team so that he can DH. He seems to have gotten his swing back but I don’t think there is anywhere to hide his defensive issues.

pman, good that we agree regarding Soriano being traded to an AL club in order to DH. We both know it won’t be an easy thing to do and the Cubs would have to eat A LOT of his money but better to do it this season while he is showing some signs of offense right? Good luck to Hendry with this. As far as being all for keeping Soriano because he is swinging and connecting I have to disagree as he would have to do just that for FOUR YEARS!!! And although he may improve offensivley under Jaramillo’s (cue celestial music…) guidance his improvement is only perceived as such because he was injured and bad last year plus he will not improve (just the opposite) defensivley. Soriano would have to consistantly crush the ball, hit 30 to 40 homeruns, steal 30 bases, stay healthy and catch 50% of the balls hit to left…you know, like he did IN THE PAST and only currently in Hendry’s MIND. 8 years…WTF.

I think you said it petrey10, although even if Lou did force Soriano to run, give him the green light, whatever, it is still doubtful he is fast enough to successfully steal 30 bases. And I agree that whether it’s laziness or self-preservation like he shows in left field by avoiding the wall, dives etc. he doesn’t show the aggressivness needed to thrive as ballplayer. Wasn’t it kind of funny that the day following Brenly taking Soriano to task regarding hustle on the bases he FINALLY legs out a triple?? He (any player) should not need to be lectured to get the best effort available. Again, if Hendry signed him to only 4 years I could see it being a more reasnable gamble, but 8 years? Hendry and us fans already lost this bet.

yeah 8 years is a real freaking long time…. if he stays hitting he could get 30 homeruns this year….. he won’t steal 30 bases because Lou doesn’t force them to run… its green light which means you get to choose… and then since Soriano is pretty lazy he won’t want to steal.. if we traded him I hope we at least get some talent in return not like the Bradley trade where we just gave him away (even tho Silva looks like an amazing pick up now!!! props to ya Silva)

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